Georgia, metro extend trend of rising high school graduation rates

Officials credit more options for students to keep them ‘invested.’

Georgia’s high school graduation rate ticked up once again this year to 81.6 percent, and most of metro Atlanta’s biggest districts also notched modest gains.

The statewide average for the class of 2018 is one percentage point higher than 2017, according to data released Wednesday by the Georgia Department of Education. The rate has climbed steadily from 69.7 percent in 2012, when the state began using a federal measure to calculate rates.

In metro Atlanta, five of the six largest school districts also increased their graduation rates over last year. Fulton County Schools held its rate steady at 86.8 percent, surpassing the state average and the graduation rates of Atlanta at 79.9 percent, Clayton at 71.7 percent, Cobb at 85.2 percent, DeKalb at 75 percent and Gwinnett at 81.7 percent.

State School Superintendent Richard Woods credited a myriad of programs that give high schoolers “more opportunities than ever before” for the success.

“From career, technical, and agricultural education to dual enrollment to the fine arts, there is an unprecedented emphasis on supporting the whole child and making sure every single student understands the relevance of what they’re learning. I’m confident we’ll continue to see these gains as long as we’re still expanding opportunities that keep students invested in their education,” he said in a written statement.

But amid the celebration, some are calling for a deeper look at what the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education describes as “the missing 20 percent” who don’t graduate.

“Wedon’t have a good handle on who those kids really are,” said Dana Rickman, vice presi-

dent of the nonpartisan organization.

That work should start with understanding which students are struggling and then developing strategies to fit their needs. One place to start is by looking at vulnerable students who are often absent from school, in foster care and in the juvenile justice system, she said.

“Clearly for that 20 percent that we are sort of chipping away at we need to be thinking of doing something fundamentally different for them,” Rickman said.

The group made boosting the graduation rate one of its “top 10 issues to watch” in 2018. After two consecutive years during which the state’s graduation rate nudged above 80 percent, Georgia is now “really getting to the hard work” of finding ways to help the remaining students earn a diploma, Rickman said.

Some of the graduation gains Georgia has made in recent years can be attributed to schools doing a better job of tracking and reporting student data after the state implemented the so-called “four-year adjusted cohort” calculation to figure out the graduation rate.

The method counts students who earn a diploma within four years of entering high school while also requiring districts to track students who leave their systems.

The state’s graduation rate tumbled when the new calculation went into place, but has since climbed steadily.

One of the metro districts with the biggest gains this year was Atlanta Public Schools, which drew closer to the statewide average and increased its graduation rate by 2.9 percentage points.

Atlanta superintendent Meria Carstarphen credited a number of efforts for the improvement. They include: offering programs that provide social and emotional support to students, providing alternative ways to make up credits and tracking data to alert school officials so they can intervene when a student has missed too many days or is failing too many classes.

“We have to create an environment that makes them feel safe, welcomed, respected and engaged in school,” she said. “It’s really about improving the quality of what we are offering so kids want to come to school.”

Carstarphen said the district recently reviewed graduation requirements to make sure that an appropriate amount of academic rigor goes into earning a diploma.

That “tightening” is “about raising the standard” in preparation for this school year, she said.

She said the review included making sure the district has clear standards and monitoring in areas ranging from attendance to transcripts, credit recovery, online learning and requests to change grades.